Archive for September, 2010

Some recent research into why girls drop out of school has revealed that one reason is that many schools do not have toilets. Of those that have, many do not have separate toilets for girls. As the girls grow they tend to miss school when they are having their periods, not just because they may be experiencing pain but also because they find it difficult to use the same toilets as the boys. Parents do not encourage girls to go out when they are having their periods mainly because of these problems.

Because they miss class they tend to start falling back in their studies. Once they fall back in their studies they begin to lose interest and start staying at home. Parents then get these girls married at a young age.

Very good organisation, especially one of the few charity organisations that do not try to make money with the volunteer. (Alexander Sanders, Phyang Monastery School, Ladakh: 2010)

Gokarna Pathak, now 20 years old, wants to become a doctor.

Along with his younger brother Rajan, he has been educated and cared for by the Light for Nepal Children’s Home that was set up and continues to be funded by a group of expatriates. Their father passed away in 2000 leaving them and three other siblings in the care of their mother who brought her family to Kathmandu two years later looking for unskilled work. She started selling vegetables at an open market and is doing the same today. The eldest daughter was put in government school, while Gokarna and Rajan were admitted to LN Children’s Home. The other elder sister and elder brother where not schooled. They are currently surviving on the income the mother makes from selling vegetables and the elder brother’s wages as a bus driver.

Gokarna finished year 12 in June 2010 and is hoping to go to medical school. He graduated from year 10 in 2008 in the first division (aggregate score greater than 60%. The pass mark is 32%). His two top subjects were science and mathematics. He passed year 11 in second division and is waiting for his year 12 results. Apart from studying, which he does diligently, Gokarna (or Goks to his friends) enjoys music, plays the guitar and basketball.

He is passionate about becoming a doctor. In fact he has talked about it for the past six years ever since he went with one of the younger children from LFN, who was ill, to a hospital and stayed with him for a couple of days.To fulfil his dream, he needs sponsorship.The founders of the LN Children’s Home committed themselves to keep the children in school until the end of year 12, or college as it is known in Nepal, but do not have the resources to fund university education for them.

The sums needed to get Gorkana through Medical School are large (see below) and beyond the scope of a single sponsor. Therefore, we are inviting you to join a community of sponsors who would contribute whatever they can afford towards the following estimated costs of a medical education:
Year 1 £15,974

Year 2 £4,843

Year 3 £4,843

Year 4 £4,843

Year 5 £4,843

Year 6 £4,000

In addition, if his chosen medical school does not have free accommodation, he will need £185 per month for living expenses.

This is going to be difficult to achieve, but we are hopeful that we will be able to gather enough sponsors to make Goks’ dream come true! If you would like to join in, please contact us (via our ‘contact’ page) and let me know the total amount you are willing to contribute in each of the years he hopes to be at college. If we do succeed in getting enough money committed, then I will let you know, and give you payment instructions.

VOA News reports (6 September 2010) the following story:

‘Many people in Nepal defecate in open fields or along riverbanks, contaminating both ground and surface water used for drinking and cooking. Diarrhea, intestinal worms and gastritis are rampant.

Development groups have tried for years to draw the connection between open defecation, poor health and low productivity. But posters and preaching do not always work. Shame, on the other hand, is proving highly effective.

Children are being recruited across the country to whistle at offenders, said Namaste Lal Shrestra from the United Nation’s children agency in Nepal.

“When early in the morning, they go to the bank of the river or open place where people defecate. They go there and they whistle there. I mean they irritate the people who are open defecating” Lal Shrestra said.

The children travel to patrol the streets and riverbanks in groups to feel more confident. The subjects of the whistling? Not so confident.

“This is very interesting thing. People, they feel sad, but the thing is they have to feel they are doing the wrong things,” said Lal Shrestra. “Some people react also but later they realize children are doing the good things.”

Lal Shrestra said the children also plant flags in open-defecation areas, like marking fields booby-trapped with landmines.

“They want to show the people where people usually defecate and how much dirty in that areas,” he said.

One group in Siddhipur village is using shock tactics by telling people they are eating two kilograms of feces a year from improperly washed hands or unsanitary water containers. Another organization in Darechowk, near Kurintar, is actually paying people to use toilets. Signs posted on the highway advertise “Take a Pee and Get One Rupee.”

The investments are slowly paying off. Kabir Rajbhandari, the program manager of WaterAid in Nepal, said from January to June this year, more than 78 communities WaterAid works in have been declared free of open defecation. And more local governments are setting goals to wipe out public defication.

“I can not exactly say it is political,” he said. “But because of the people’s commitment and the pressure they’re putting on the municipalities and some of the areas where there’s been a public health disaster last year and this year.”

But even if the people want to change, they do not always have the facilities to do so. Public toilets are often so mismanaged that they are too dirty and smelly to approach. And the country lacks sewers and sanitation systems, according to Rajbhandari.

“If you look at the capital of Nepal itself, the treatment efficiency is quite poor. We can find evidence of [contamination], which the government tries to say that is treated water,” said Rajbhandari. “So in Kathmandu area there is no liability in terms of the water supply they are providing.”

Rajbhandari said the Nepalese government has improved in the past two years by sketching out a national plan to tackle the problem and allocating a separate budget for sanitation.

But the political uncertainty that has plagued the country since Nepal’s civil war ended in 2006 has also undermined those plans.’